Thomas County Central's DeOndre Sullivan dribbles the ball up the floor against Colquitt County on Tuesday night.

THOMASVILLE — Thomas County Central basketball had a difficult outing against Colquitt County Tuesday night, with the girls unable to escape a rough performance in the game’s first two frames in 62-37 loss, and the boys falling behind early in an eventual 64-40 defeat. 

The boys started off decently well, keeping up with Colquitt very early with some three pointers from Quintavius Cooksey and DeOndre Sullivan to keep the game close at 8-6 in the middle of the first. However, The Packers pulled ahead to a 19-8 lead by the time the second quarter began. The lead never faltered, as Colquitt cruised to a victory, keeping the Yellow Jackets searching for their first win.

BJ Jones led the team in scoring, hitting three shots from behind the three-point line in a 15 point performance, with Cooksey just behind him with 11.

“We have to play with more of a sense of urgency,” Thomas County Central boys coach Will Lewis said. “We have to play every game like it’s the Thomasville game. Right now we’re just kind of sitting in a lull, waiting on somebody to step up and take the reigns.”

Both teams in the girls game were a little sloppy out of the gate, as the Yellow Jackets were having issues with shooting and ball handling, and the Packers could not take advantage. Central struck first with a layup, but Colquitt’s early issues vanished very quickly.

The Packers were locked in from that point, while the Jackets still had problems with ball control and rebounding. Colquitt scored 14 consecutive points before struggling Central finally got a shot in for the second time, and the Jackets were down 16-6 headed into the second quarter.

The Packer onslaught continued in the next frame, and Central was only able to muster a single point in the second, a made Kelauni Stewart free throw. Colquitt made 20 free throws in 26 tries during the game, which certainly didn’t help Central’s chances. Going into halftime, the Yellow Jackets’ deficit had grown to 30-7. 

Coming out of the locker room, Central began to play a little bit more sound, with Jade Guyton and Janiah Ellis hitting quick back-to-back scores to get the game to 37-16 in the third. While the Jackets were able to score more points in the third that they did in the entire first half, it was not nearly enough as they fell to 0-5 on the season.

Guyton led the girls with seven points on the night, with Ilyria Johns following close behing with six.